The Wickepin Kaolin mission is a high-grade kaolin web site positioned close to Perth, Western Australia. It is likely one of the largest premium main sources of kaolin on this planet.
The mission is wholly owned by WA Kaolin (WAK), a mineral exploration, extraction and processing firm.
The mission produces kaolin merchandise appropriate for a lot of markets, together with paper. The kaolin mission has a mine lifetime of 73 years.
Constructing works on the web site started in January 2021 with an preliminary capital funding of A$42m ($32.37m). The mine was commissioned in September 2022.
Wickepin Kaolin mission location
The Wickepin Kaolin mission is positioned 20km east of Wickepin, 220km from Perth.
It includes 4 retention licences and a single mining lease (M70/1143) positioned inside the Western Australian central Wheatbelt area.
The tenement space spans greater than 10,000 hectares (24,710.54 acres) and was acquired by WAK in 1999.
Wickepin kaolin mission geology
The lithologies inside the Wickepin kaolin mission are hosted by the granitic basement of the Yilgarn terrane, with Paleoproterozoic-aged dioritic and doleritic dykes having intruded into them.
Hanging east-northeast throughout the mission space, the dykes are linked to the Widgiemooltha giant igneous province. The dykes and granitic basement are overlain by a regolith profile together with transitional and saprolitic horizons, a mottled clay zone and a lateritic/colluvial horizon.
Reserves
The Wickepin kaolin mission is estimated to include 64.9Mt of confirmed and possible reserves with a yield of fifty.5%, containing 32.8Mt of in situ kaolin, as of 2023.
Mining methodology at Wickepin Kaolin mission
The Wickepin kaolin mission is mined utilizing an open-cut mining methodology with the assistance of typical load and haul open-pit mining tools.
The mining fleet consists of 40t/60t-class hydraulic excavators and 40t/50t articulated haul vans, permitting for a really selective mining strategy.
The mission doesn’t contain drill and blast, and your entire deposit is free dig. Mining is performed in small particular person pits for simple waste administration, tails disposal and rehabilitation actions.
Ore processing
The Wickepin Kaolin mission is being developed in levels, with the preliminary growth designed to attain manufacturing of 200,000 tonnes every year (tpa) of kaolin product. The operation included solely dry processing amenities and two modules of equal design capability.
Subsequently, the mission is ready to develop, doubling its capability to round 400,000tpa via the development of a further two modules, similar to the primary pair.
Processing relies on the K99 course of developed on the Kwinana pilot plant, which has been operational since April 2017 with extra enhancements thereafter.
The K99 course of consists of whole-of-feed drying, measurement discount, dry attrition, beneficiation, product packaging and dry tailing disposal. A traditional ore preparation plant with loading, feeding, crushing and conveying, in addition to a standard rotary dryer and product elevation system, are a part of the processing infrastructure.
The dry ore is fed right into a purpose-built cyclonic dry separation plant and the kaolin fraction is faraway from the airstream via a standard baghouse filter and despatched to silos for bagging. The resultant waste product is sand with some residual kaolin hooked up to it.
Website infrastructure
The Kaolin mission’s current transport infrastructure constitutes highway and rail corridors. It consists of the event of inside mission roads for the motion of autos and mining tools.
The location receives energy provide from the prevailing Western Energy community, with thermal vitality for drying offered from LPG saved in on-ground storage tanks.
WAK additionally plans to assemble a 1 km-long railway siding from the prevailing railway line.
Contractors concerned
The DFS report was ready by BDB Course of, whereas Auspan was contracted for the preliminary constructing structural design and development.
SF Designs was appointed to help WAK in making ready the detailed specs and knowledge sheets for development implementation and tools sourcing.
QUBE Bulk performed an impartial evaluation and price range estimate for the mission.
Utility firm Ansac, a subsidiary of Power Australia, was chargeable for the design and development of the onsite rotary kiln whereas the contract for the automated container loading system was awarded to TEH Latvia.
WAK contracted ACFS Port Logistics for transportation providers between the Wickepin Kaolin Mission and ACFS’s Fremantle Port facility in Western Australia.